Believing God’s Unseen Word

Please turn in the Word of God to Hebrews, Hebrews 11. We had a wonderful time last weekend, very encouraged by the ministry of the brethren, and it was good to sit under the Word and be encouraged. If you did not hear the sermons brought by Dr. Pollock or the addresses brought by Dr. Sidwell, we encourage you to take the time to get up to speed. We come this morning as we continue our study in Hebrews. We are in the 11th chapter and we’ve once again slowed down somewhat. The opening few verses set the stage for what is to follow. This chapter is well known, but there are depths in the opening few verses, much like the first chapter. And we spent many weeks looking at the first few verses of chapter 1. We could spend many more weeks looking at the opening verses of chapter 11. But we will seek, with the Lord’s help, to look at the third verse today. And so, we’ll read the opening six verses, Hebrews 11 verse 1.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it, he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

This, beloved, is the word of the living God which you are to receive and to believe. And the people of God said, Amen. Let’s pray.

Lord, do remember the Bowmans as they make their way to Liberia. We pray for ease and preparation. The particulars needed to be able to get there. So help with the visa application. Let it be a speedy process. We ask that the family will go there and once again, as you have already answered prayer, continue to answer prayer. Thank you, Lord, for what you’re doing there in Liberia. We pray that thou will continue to keep thy hand upon that work. We again lift up our brother Deccanio, asking that you would help him, you would work in his heart, And we pray, Lord, that You will bring a happy outcome out of what has been a difficult and trying time. Be with us here this morning. We come to remember our Lord Jesus, to think upon Him and His finished work. And we’ve considered this God who has made all things. We pray that Thou wilt help us to see that Thou art not a God aloof from us. one who has condescended to save us. We pray today our hearts may be taught and helped. Give us Thy Spirit, now we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

In Numbers 13 and 14 we’re given the historical account of the spies that are sent to go and investigate the land. This story is familiar even to the children of our congregation. One that’s familiar to anyone who has even a cursory understanding of the history of the Scriptures going through the Old Testament. It plays a critical role on whether or not the children of Israel would go into the promised land at the time when they had come out of Egypt or whether they would be delayed. And as we well know, they are delayed. What transpires is that there are ten spies who go in and bring what is described in Scripture as an evil report. A report that fills the mind and heart of the children of Israel with visions of the greatness of the enemy, the impossibility of the task, the highness of the walls of the cities, and really just the sense that there’s no possible way that we are prepared to go in at this juncture.

Two of the spies, of course, come back. They’re named for us, Joshua and Caleb. They return in expectation. They give a good report. They tell the people that we can carry on, we can press on into the promised land. And as you well know, that there’s a response from the nation, a response from the people. The response is that they fall foul of the report of the majority, and they ignore those in the minority. Well, this is much to teach us. The whole existence then of Israel at that point is governed, their experience is governed by a moment. There are 40 years that are to follow, governed by a moment. What will you do in the moment? They turn, not from the report of Caleb and Joshua, which I think sometimes we misunderstand. We look at it as two men coming and giving a positive account and being filled with optimism versus men filled with pessimism. But that’s not really what is at play. What Caleb and Joshua come to tell the people is simply that we can trust God. We can trust God.

That the response of the people is not whether now is the time or not, but whether we will trust God. God had made it plain. In Exodus 6, as he begins to work and prepare Moses and send him to the people and send he and Aaron before Pharaoh and the plagues that follow and so on. In Exodus 6, God reiterates his covenant promise to the children of Israel, declaring, I will bring you in onto the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And many things led up then to the people being led out of Egypt, coming to the threshold, as it were, of the Red Sea, crossing there by God’s miraculous power and His provision. And they ought then to have resolved within their heart that God certainly is with us, He is leading us, He is providing for us, He will fulfill His promise to us. His word in Exodus 6 multiplied upon all that he had said to their forefathers ought to have been enough. It should have been the end of any discussion.

The very appointment of the spies, and if I think my memory, I didn’t refresh, this came into my mind and I meant to go back and check it, but I think in Deuteronomy 1, you will see that in the account given in Deuteronomy, Moses rehearses the fact that even the sending of the spies was by their own desire. And God condescends to their curiosity and their fear and concern, and sends the spies. It was not something God told them to do, but permitted and allowed them to follow through on. If I’m misremembering Deuteronomy 1, please forgive me. But I think that’s what the account says to us there. And so, God condescends, they go with the spies, and they are meant to carry on forward, but they don’t. They stop short. unbelief hindered their progress. And it brought the dire consequences of wasting, if we can use that within a certain way. God had a work to do. God didn’t waste the time. But there is a sense in which, humanly speaking, we can say they wasted an opportunity. And forty years of their lives governed by a decision in a moment. That often is the case with many of us. There are times in our lives when we have a decision to make and we have to perceive what God’s will is and the decision we make in that moment can have ramifications that extend through the coming years.

The passage before us, the third verse of Hebrews 11, encourages us before it proceeds into the details of the elders or the historical individuals that are given to us from verse 4 and following. You know, verses 4 and so on speak of Abel, then Enoch, Noah, and so on and so forth. Individuals who lived by faith, trusted God—they were not perfect. I have said before, in some of them at least, the flaws are seen and the flaws are known. But they also lived by faith. They walked and obeyed God in a way that was pleasing to Him and allows them to be mentioned in this chapter as examples for all of us to learn from. But before the apostle gets into them, he says in verse three, “Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

Now, this has been somewhat of a challenging verse to look at and consider within its context. What is the apostle saying? It certainly has become, down through the years, a springboard into dealing with God creating the world—His creation ex nihilo, out of nothing. And we can see the theological implications there, and we will touch on some of that with the Lord’s help this morning. But what’s the context? Why is he saying this? Why does he not go from verse 2, “the elders obtained a good report,” and then proceed to give us examples in Abel and so on? Why put this here? And even the way that it’s worded, our translation says “through faith,” but it’s in the similar vein that we find the rest of the chapter, “by faith, by faith.” The translation says through, but “by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.” Why does he make this deviation from the flow that is to follow from verse 4? Well, we will endeavor to make that plain with the Lord’s help.

I’ve titled the message this morning, “Believing God’s Unseen Word.” Believing God’s Unseen Word. And there are three heads that will help us as we structure our thoughts here this morning. The agreement, the agent, and the effect. The agreement, the agent, and the effect. Using those words and seeking to look at verse 3, we will, I hope, understand what this is saying within its context a little better.

First, the agreement. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” We understand. Now he is going to move to a point of giving examples, historical examples in which he cannot say “we”—we weren’t there with Abel, we weren’t there with Cain, we weren’t there with Enoch, we weren’t there with Noah and Abraham, and so on. But here he pulls in the whole audience. And he finds common ground, an agreement, if you like, between all who are truly the Lord’s. He includes not only those from history that he is going to account, but also his audience and himself. He pulls in the apostle, his audience, the audience right there in front of him that he’s addressing, all the faithful of the past and all the faithful that are to come, including those of us who know Christ here this morning. We, we understand. Here’s common ground. Here’s an agreement between all who know and love the Lord. They have something, something in common, something in agreement.

And we are to then consider that there’s this focus by the apostle upon things that we’re to understand are true of us all. Because he’s going to point back to Abel, and you might say, well, that’s not me. Is that true of me? And what Noah did, is that true of me? And Abraham and so on, are these things true of me? And he lays a foundation. Here’s what joins us all together—that by faith or through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God and so on.

The classic view of this text is that the universe, look at the verse, “the worlds were framed by the word of God.” These are the things which are seen and they’re not made of things which do appear. And the idea of the latter part of that verse has brought a lot of struggle—what’s it referring to? And mostly they fall on this, that which is not… pardon me, I’ve got a division here in the page, the verse breaks in my page, and I have to turn for the first part of the verse and the second part of the verse. So, “that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” The end of that text, classically, is understood to be God, referring to God, identifying God. The one that can’t be seen, the invisible God. And He’s been made then—the world that we see, that is made, has been made by the invisible God. And you can see the logic and the rationale of that. We understand this. It’s everywhere in Scripture. It’s not to be disputed.

But is that what it’s saying? Is that really what the latter part of this verse is saying to us? And this is where I wrestle because there are arguments about the grammar and arguments over what the negative is really pointing to. And I’ll not bore you with all of that, but as I looked at it, this is not something upon which the church divides, right? It’s one of those interpretive challenges, and I see how good men can differ. But it would appear that the “so that” clause has an influence on how we understand verse 3.

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. One author I read, one commentator, argues that the verse has correlating ideas on either side of the “so that” clause. And I’m summarizing his argument. They’re correlating ideas. So if you look at it, and you see there in verse three, the worlds, the worlds correlate with things which are seen after the “so that.” So you have the “so that” clause acting as a hinge. And you have the worlds correlating with things which are seen. You have then that the worlds were framed—they were framed. And that correlates with the language “made of things.” Though it’s put in the negative, there’s “made of things,” the idea of making, things being made or framed. And then you have “by the word of God.” And that correlates with the “things not made of things which do appear.” So “not made of”—these things were made by something that does not appear to us, something we can’t see.

And so I am deviating, I’ll just say right out of the gate before we go anywhere, I’m saying I’m deviating from what mostly you will find in faithful writers, where they attribute this text as pointing to the invisible that has made the visible world as God himself. And I’m suggesting to you that as you see the correlating ideas, I think that it is referring not to God himself, but to His word. Now, when we say that, can you separate God from His word? In one sense, yes, by revelation you see it. But in one sense, no, because God’s word is the revelation of His will. It’s part—you can’t separate really His will from His being. And so when He speaks, His will is revealed, and therefore, in a certain sense, they are very much tied together.

Now, the reason why I’ve taken that position is because I think it makes better sense in the flow of the argument. Because it appears to me that this whole chapter, of course, is about what? It’s about taking God at His word. I said to you in previous sermons that the “by faith,” of course, is founded upon justifying grace. These people are saved. They know God. They’ve been justified by God the same way you or I are justified. We’re justified by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone. There’s only one way to God. They were before the cross—they looked forward, taking God at His word. We are after the cross—we look back, seeing all that He has accomplished and taking Him at His word. And it seems that the main focus here of Hebrews 11 is for us to take God at His word.

It comes on the back of really what the entire book is about, when it keeps pointing forward, to listen, to agree with God. And the event that I’ve already rehearsed to you in my introduction—what happened there in Numbers, with the children of Israel succumbing to the evil report and so on—that’s rehearsed, isn’t it? Back in chapters 3 and 4. And they did not enter in because of what? Unbelief. Again, it wasn’t the fact that they just didn’t understand or see everything that Caleb and Joshua saw and rehearsed. The fact is they would not take God at His word. And so, this evil report that says “now’s not the time” is put not against Caleb and Joshua, but against Caleb and Joshua as they rehearsed God’s word and what God had promised.

And so it comes back to the same theme that has been stated over and over again in Hebrews—that we are to believe God, we are to take God at His word. And that’s what Abel did, that’s what Noah did, that’s what Abraham did, Enoch and so on. What they did is they took God at His word. And that’s why I say the focus, the focus of this verse, I think, on the invisible is pointing to the Word of God that framed the worlds. That’s the invisible thing. And so the “so that” clause really just builds upon what the early part of the verse teaches us. Correlating truths, showing it’s not so much a subsequent event, but a logical implication. This is the logical implication.

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that—the logical implication is—the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. I think in the context that’s a more correct assessment of how we’re to understand it. And I think the relevance of it is important to us. That the apostle is showing that the word that made the world is the word that was believed by the Old Testament saints. It is setting forth these people, their amazing feats, their actions, sometimes defying what might be rational. Abraham offering his son, Moses refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter—these are not things that make any sense. “Moses, could you not use that wealth and power for good?” “Abraham, God gave you Isaac—why would you take him up Mount Moriah?” “How is it that walking around a city can result in its destruction?” There’s an element in which reason doesn’t answer all of this.

And so what the apostle is laying before us—that word that brought the world into existence is the word that God’s people have always believed. That’s why they’d rather believe it, even though they can’t fully, like in human sense, understand it. Their understanding comes by He said it. So by faith, we understand.

Abraham, offer your son, your only son—by faith only can he make any understanding of that, knowing that God had promised him, that God’s fulfillment would come through him, and reasoning, believing that God would raise him from the dead. This is what unites believers across every age. This is what unites us to those believers of the past. This is what unites us as a congregation. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that here’s the logical outcome of that, and then it flows into “by faith Abel” and so on.

So that’s the agreement. These elders trusted in God’s promises without seeing the outcome. I mean, did you see the world made? Did you? No. None of us did. And yet, every believing, every Christian here, every true, genuine, born-again Christian would, I hope, rather take a bullet than deny that God made the world. Why is that? What’s the consequence of that? That the believer, the true child of God, the regenerate child of God cannot deny God made the world. It’s that sense of confidence, that same resolve, that absolute persuasion that unites all of us, that we are to carry into other revelation, other things God has said, promised, declared.

Let’s think of the agent, the agent here as well. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.” The worlds were framed by the Word of God. Often when we speak of creation, we speak of the Son of God as the agent in creation. You could go to John 1:3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and so on and so forth, and it goes to show that by Him all things were made, and so on. In Colossians 1:15-16, you have the same thing: Jesus Christ is set forth as the agent of creation, making things visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or principalities or powers, all things were made by Him.

But this verse says that the agent of creation is the Word of God. And as I’ve already indicated to you, there’s an inseparable link between God and His Word. His Word is the revelation of His will. His Word is the revelation of His will. When Jesus walked upon the earth, He didn’t have to say what He said when He healed people from a distance. He didn’t have to speak when He did so on occasions when He healed people, raised the dead, and gave sight to the blind. But He often did, and what He spoke, what He uttered, was a revelation of His own will. That He was speaking. And that’s the mind and will of God. And that, therefore, that comes to pass. And it’s unstoppable. It cannot be prevented.

This verse then describes an intentional, purposeful act where the worlds were framed by the Word of God. The worlds were framed by the Word of God. This is not chaos. It’s not random chance. The worlds were framed by the Word of God. It implies the sovereignty of God, does it not? The worlds were made by the Word of God. It again indicates that the time in which the world was made and how, you say time, time itself comes into being or existence right at that moment as well. I was talking to the young people, thinking about this this past week and just considering some things, like how we struggle. We really struggle to conceive of before creation. We do. We struggle. Boys and girls, if you struggle to think of the world before there was a world, join the club; we’re all the same. And I’m thinking about how even as we conceive of God without creation, we still end up having Him, generally speaking, I think this is true of most of us, we tend to have Him suspended in some kind of nothingness, right?

He’s God and nothing. But that’s not true. It’s not true. It’s just God. It’s not like there’s a whole big vacuum around Him, like the universe without stars and planets and so on. It’s just God. Before creation, it’s God, independent. And when we talk about nothing, there isn’t even nothing, as it were, around Him. It’s just God, suspended, as it were, existing, self-existing, eternal, without anything else, in addition to anything our mind tries to frame. Again, it’s—the mind boggles. We struggle to conceive of these things and for good reason. We’re considering God, right? This is part of our limitations as creatures. If we could understand all these things, then we would be part of the Godhead.

The worlds were framed by the Word of God. God is standing behind it. God is bringing order out of—what there was, as we can only use these words—there was nothing there except God. And so, in framing it this way, “the worlds were framed by the Word of God,” and using that kind of language, it shows us how this is a very intentional act, not haphazard.

And so when we read this passage or read this phrase, there’s two things. First, it assumes divine creation. It assumes divine creation: “The worlds were framed by the word of God.” And we have this on two accounts. First, scriptural testimony. I’m just going to touch on this. I’m touching on the fact that the Scriptures repeatedly affirm that creation came by God. God made all things. Genesis 1 describes God speaking creation into existence. Every act of creation is God said, and it comes to pass. It’s really a reflection of the language here, “The worlds were framed by the Word of God.” God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Psalm 8: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon, and the stars, which thou hast ordained.” Psalm 33:6: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” Isaiah 45:18: “Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it.” So the scriptural testimony is plain, and there are many other references. We sang Psalm 148. I mean, it’s full—Scripture’s full, full of telling us God made this world. This creation was made by God in its entirety. It is God’s. He brought it into existence. He governs over it all. That’s what Scripture says.

But it’s also general revelation. General revelation also helps us to see and understand this—divine creation. “By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.” We turn to Scripture because it’s clear. We turn to Scripture because it’s very—it doesn’t need arguing if we accept it as it’s revealed. But even without Scripture, there are things about this world that speak to man. When Paul writes in Romans 1, he tells us that God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, are clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Creation itself speaks of its Creator.

Now, I know we might say it this way, all that it says is a Christless message. It does not tell us of how fallen man can be redeemed, but it still points to the reality of God. Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Creation, this beautiful world in which we live—at times horrific as well—the intricacies of it, the details of it, show us that it was intentionally made or framed by God. It declares His majesty; it speaks of His goodness. It shows so much of God to us.

When Thomas Manton came to this passage, he said that there are three attributes of God that are clearly seen in the created order—God’s power, God’s wisdom, and God’s goodness. Without a single verse from the Word of God, a careful consideration, a looking at the world in which we live would lead us to conclude that this world has been made; therefore, whoever made it has power beyond my comprehension. The way it works together, the perfect harmony of so much of it that we see, shows His wisdom. And the way that it provides, the way that it upholds itself so that those things made are preserved and kept, shows His goodness.

So, scriptural testimony and general revelation—sometimes referred to as special and general revelation—are what God has given to us. And when you read that “the worlds were framed by the word of God,” we understand, yes, it’s revealed in scriptural testimony, but it’s also in the world around us.

And this is important. It’s important because I want to make this point: it not only assumes divine creation, it rewards man’s contemplation. It not only assumes divine creation, it rewards man’s contemplation. The worlds were framed by the Word of God. The worlds were framed by the Word of God. The heavens declare.

I was convicted by this—convicted because it is one thing a preacher wants, if he is bringing the truth, provided that he is a faithful preacher of the Word. He does not want to have or experience repeatedly the lament of Isaiah: “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” That’s a lamentation. It’s a lamentation. “Does anyone believe? Has God revealed His Son—the arm of the Lord—to anyone?”

I was convicted because in studying this, for the first time at least, impressing upon me in a way that was fresh, was a sense of my ignoring of the pulpits and the sermons that God has put into His creation. The heavens declare the glory of God. God has given to them a pulpit and a particular sermon to preach. Like I say, it’s a Christless sermon. It cannot save; it cannot redeem; it cannot point to the remedy for man’s sin. It is a deficient sermon, but it is a sermon nonetheless. And all of creation, everywhere you look, if you would only have eyes to see and actually contemplate, God has surrounded us with pulpits and sermons to help us.

Manton said, “An ant and a gnat may take the pulpit and preach a God to us.” The first passage that came to mind was Proverbs 6: “Consider the ant, thou sluggard.” Consider the ant. Contemplate. Compare your life to this little creature. Later on in Proverbs 30, it talks about the four things that are wise, the creatures that are wise in this world, that we again are to contemplate, would actually look at it, consider it, see what it’s saying to us.

Of course, the question then might arise, well, do we have to do this? Is this something that we must do? I say, do you want to be Christ-like? I began to meditate upon how our Lord must have done this as a boy, as a young man—that He walked through this world, His own world. And His human nature, contemplating everything going on around Him.

This could be a series of sermons—the Sermon on the Mount. “Behold the fowls of the air,” as He tries to get across to men the security of the believer, that God will take care of you, as He communicates a sense of providence and its particular mercy to the people of God. “Behold the fowls of the air; they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet God provides.”

With reference to His own work, He has considered the world. He’s looked and observed, He’s studied, thought and made spiritual connections to how a corn of wheat gives its life to produce a harvest. And then He stands and He says, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit,” referring to Himself.

Creation invites us to contemplate the fingerprint of the attributes of God and the will of God. I put both there—not just the glory of God and His power and wisdom and goodness, but even to see things like our Lord says, His government, His providence, which implies a certain thing in terms of my life, doesn’t it? Our Lord brings this out. It’s what I’ve just said in Matthew 6. You don’t need to be anxious. Anxiety about the cares of this life is proof of your unbelief. You don’t believe God framed the world by His word. He governs over all.

It rewards man’s contemplation. I think we need to hear this. I think this is really relevant. I’ve mentioned this, I’ve touched on this before, so I’m conscious of it. I think what happened in preparation for today was it just went deeper.

As I’ve told you before, I think—I believe atheism in part has been helped by the fact that most people today never spend any time in God’s world. What do I mean by that? I’ve told you this before. You’re up in this home that’s built by man, framed by man, finished by man. Yes, man has manipulated it, and it’s right to do that, but it’s all really—the lasting impression of it is the handiwork of man. You don’t even have to get outside. You open a door that opens into your garage, and there’s your vehicle. And you step into another thing, surrounded by the machinations of man, all that he has done. And you quickly, swiftly go to work, paying attention mostly to the other machinery of man in front of you and around you, rather than the beauty that surrounds you as you make your way to the office. And you drive into the underground parking lot, get out and get into an elevator, and up you go to make your way to the office. You spend most of the day there. You reverse the travel all the way back and go home again, get your dinner, and sit down and maybe read a book, maybe watch something on television, catch up with the news or whatever the case might be. And that’s our lives.

Contrastingly, most of the past in man’s history has been living in tiny little huts which were shelter in the night, and as soon as you wanted to do anything, you moved out of there, and you were outside immediately in God’s creation. Surrounded by the birds singing their songs early in the morning. Listening to them break the silence of the dawn. The trees. You’re harvesting your own, the work of your own hands, as it were. The seeds that you have sown. And you’re just surrounded, constantly contemplating, “When will the rains come? Will the rains come? Will the crop be a good one this year?” Constantly filled with the activity and the cycles of this world that God has put in. And it’s very hard to be atheistic when you’re always looking at His handiwork.

So it’s played into the atheistic drive of our day. And I think it breeds a certain atheism within the people of God as well because we follow the same patterns, and we do not take time to go out and actually just think about God’s creation. The leaves change color before they fall. And oh, what colors they produce. What a thing is that. What a detail. When we die, we do not look in any way that appears attractive or glorious. But God has put little areas of creation—even as it breathes its last, as it were, before a little gust of wind comes and severs it from where it has existed for the last months—to display these bright colors. Vibrant yellows and reds, burgundies. It rewards man’s contemplation.

The worlds were framed by the Word of God. God spoke this world into existence. We are to see it, observe it, contemplate it, hear its sermons. Consider the handiwork of the One who made it.

Then the effect—what’s the effect? “Through faith we understand.” I’m working backwards really in this text. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.” Faith in God’s creative Word, the Word that made all things—the exercise of His will, speaking things into existence—produces something in us. It produces understanding. Understanding, I’ve already touched on this.

How do you understand God telling you to kill your only son? How do you understand that? How do you understand a military effort that basically says, “March around the city once every day for a week. On the last day, march around it seven times. Then what? Then just watch. Blow the trumpet and watch.” I mean, this doesn’t make any sense. Look, I’m being careful with my language here because I don’t want to sound like an atheist, but—taking away God’s Word—it makes no sense. It gives understanding, right? His Word, His invisible Word, which we take even though there are things yet to be fulfilled—things we haven’t seen. “I haven’t seen the walls come down, Lord,” Joshua might ask. “I haven’t seen it.” And the people who follow him—“We haven’t seen it.” Abraham’s not able to see his son rise from the dead if he slays him on Mount Moriah. He can’t see it. But by faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God—that we look, as I say, we would take a bullet rather than deny that God made the world.

He would take a bullet rather than say that man created those trees out there, those bushes out there, or anything else that is His handiwork. We’d rather die than deny His handiwork. And we are to carry that into all of His commands. Abraham believed God framed the world. Joshua believed it too. Noah believed it. He’s being asked to build a massive, gigantic flotation thing on land. By faith, he understood. God said it—that was enough.

That, beloved, is what is so critical about this text and what is to follow. Because the examples are not just, “Let me give you examples of heroes in the past.” It’s that they were governed by this: God says it; I’ll obey. Why was that relevant to the Hebrews? Because they were under threat. They were experiencing an increasing likelihood of suffering, financial loss, perhaps even suffering the loss of their own life. It hadn’t yet happened. They had not yet suffered unto blood. But even the way it’s worded is slightly ominous about what may be in the future. And the apostle is driving this home: you live governed by what God’s Word says and nothing else.

So this should produce—and I’ll just leave these three things with you—three things just to emphasize how through faith we understand that the worlds were made, how it affects our understanding, not just that God says it, but there are these three areas that it should impact.

First, of course, obedience, right? I’ve been emphasizing that already. Obedience—if God says, “Build an ark,” then you build an ark. You make it your life’s work to build an ark. Even though the world’s laughing at you, it doesn’t make any sense to them whatsoever. “Noah’s lost his mind.” By faith, he understood. No one else did. Same with Moses. I’ve mentioned these already, I’m just peppering these in. Moses. “Moses, why would you leave Egypt? Why would you leave royal power? Why would you leave the dignity of that position in the most powerful nation perhaps on the planet? Why would you do that? Use it for good.” By faith, he understood. And go down through the list. We will see, in due course, God willing, how they obeyed. They obeyed, even if it meant suffering. The one right out of the gate, Abel, lost his life. That should put a fine enough point on the matter, shouldn’t it? That the whole point is that by faith, even if it means you lose your life, Abel obeyed and died as a result.

Worship—it should produce worship. Understanding that the worlds were framed by God’s Word should lead us into worship. We obey; we worship; we adore. We see Him governing, ruling, controlling all in this world, and we worship Him. We respond to His greatness and His glory, His holiness and power.

And then thanksgiving. We find reasons to thank Him. “Thank you again, Lord, for the beautiful rain. Thank you for the sunshine. Thank you for the glorious mingling of the two. Thank you for how the grass grows and hides the dirt and gives a pretty color across our soil. Thank you for how the flowers bloom. Thank you for how the leaves change color. Thank you for the way the clouds move. Thank you for the way the wind blows, gathering in the beauty of the shapes that they make in the sky. Thank you for the various animals and how they interact. Thank you, Lord, for these things and then more. Thank you that your government over this world and all of its intricacies does not leave me out.”

And leading us then, as I should this morning, “Thank you, Lord, that you saw a man in his plight. You saw a man lost. You saw a man dead, ruined by his disobedience, ruined by his unbelief, and you intervened. You came there into the garden that morning to address Adam and communicate your understanding of his position, and you gave a promise: the seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent. What a promise!”

On that promise, Adam goes forward. In himself, he could have wished the ground to open up and swallow him because every man, woman, boy, and girl born into the world is going to suffer without exception because of his unbelief and disobedience. Instead, he takes God at His word and turns to his bride and gives her a name that indicates life. Life. God, though He said, “The day we eat of that forbidden fruit we will die,” has come with a word that says we will live.

And everything around Adam began to change. Everything around Adam began to say, the death, the death is encroaching. It’s swallowing you up, Adam. It’s swallowing up your wife. It’s swallowing up your world. Death. It marked everything he looked around and saw. But by faith, he believed. God has given a promise of life.

That has not changed. We come this morning surrounded by death, surrounded by suffering, surrounded by sorrow, surrounded by loss, surrounded by heartache, surrounded by the fulfillment of our worst nightmares. And yet we believe. In Jesus Christ. There. Is. Life. We take God at His word. His invisible word that says that those that believe in the Son will never die. Believest thou this?

“By faith we understand.” Just like we understand God framed the worlds by His Word, we understand that the graves will give up their dead. Our souls will be united to our bodies. We will live in an eternal state—those in Christ with Him, those without Christ lost forever. Believe His word. Christian, believe His word.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

This is a good time to just reflect upon what’s to follow. We’re going to sit at the Lord’s table. This is a time when we take the Lord at His word. We believe that the one who traversed this world 2,000 years ago gave Himself, lived, died, rose again, and by the shedding of His blood, made remission of our sins. You need to believe it.

Lord, bless us with faith to apprehend what Thou hast revealed. Give us faith to take Thee at Thy word. Help us now, as this entire experience of sitting at Thy table is nothing without Thy word. All of its encouragement, all of its provision, is communicated to us by Thy word. May we believe it.

We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.